The Saudi Project Has Failed

Books will be written on the designs of the Saudi regime to reshape the greater
Middle East. Entire chapters could be dedicated to the depth of United States
and Israeli involvement and their shared partnership with the House of Saud
and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states to do so. The titles
may even stipulate it as a Saudi-U.S.-Israeli Project for emphasis. That
said, the role played by Saudi Arabia within this alliance is not insignificant.

The undertaking has directly touched nearly a half-dozen Arab countries, unified
largely by their common effort to resist the import of radical, extremist groups
unleashed in retribution for not abiding by the diktats of the Gulf dynasties.
Others opposed monarchical rule, their royal proxies or a Saudi-directed foreign
policy and attempts to impose a uniform media narrative.

The scope of such a discussion is certainly worthy of a comprehensive and detailed
analysis but only a summation is given here. Consider it the last page of the
last section of the last chapter.

The Saudi Project has failed. Utterly.

Iraq

With the fall of Saddam Hussein, alarm bells sounded in Riyadh and other GCC
capitals. He was an unpredictable ally yet one perceived to be adept at stemming
ostensible Iranian and hence (according to the sectarian mindset), Shia influence
from reaching the Arabian Peninsula. Many Gulf states have sizable Shia Arab
populations, marginalized politically and socioeconomically particularly in
Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Suddenly, a popularly-elected government assumed power
on their doorstep. Imperfect as it was, the Iraqi government reflected the demographics
of the war-torn, Shia-majority country. The creation and rise of the Islamic
State (IS) was part and parcel of their plan to make sure it would not succeed
and indeed, implode. Islamic State funding
came primarily from Saudi Arabia. Its Wahabi textbooks were published
in the Kingdom. As the former imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca said,
IS leaders, "draw their ideas from what is written in our own books, our
own principles." With the liberation of Mosul and the eviction of IS from
other Iraqi cities, it was clear there would be no "caliphate" or
return of an authoritarian, presumably Sunni, strongman to Baghdad. Banking
on Iraqi exasperation with corruption, poor security and endless terrorist attacks,
the people did not take the bait and turn on the government.

Syria

There is no greater example of the failure of the Saudi Project than in Syria.
Syria is seen as the Arab conduit between Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, a key
logistical player in the alternatively described "axis of Resistance"
or "Shiite crescent." Rival sponsorship of al-Qaeda and IS by Qatar
and Saudi Arabia respectively, and infighting among all factions including the
so-called "moderate" rebels backed by the U.S., was a part of its
undoing. Witnessing the abhorrent crimes committed by IS in Iraq and their country,
the Syrian people also had no appetite or desire to play hosts to takfiri
extremists. Neither the Sunni majority nor Christian and Alawite minorities
saw the armed groups as a viable alternative to Bashar al-Assad. Islamic State
has nearly been driven out of their stronghold in Raqqa and has already from
the Lebanese-Syrian border region. The territory they do hold, as in Iraq, is
rapidly dwindling. Assad, contrary to all initial predictions, remains firmly
in power.

Bahrain

The al-Khalifa family’s intensified crackdown
on human rights activists, religious figures and ordinary citizens protesting
their absolute rule, the dismantling of civil society and restrictions placed
on free expression sends an important signal. Such measures, including revoking
the nationality of citizens and imprisoning those who tweet on the regime’s
abuses (as has been the fate of the indefatigable Nabeel Rajab), are unsustainable
over the long-term. The will of the people has not been broken. They have yet
to succumb to the fear
the monarchy and its security services, renowned for their torture
techniques, desperately want to instill. The despotism of the Saudi-backed regime
has not halted the call by Bahrainis for equitable, representative government
in the least.

Yemen

The humanitarian crisis Yemen is testament to the devastation brought about
by the disastrous foray of Saudi forces into the poorest of Arab countries.
The Houthis, a Zaidi political-religious movement, ousted Saudi-sponsored president
Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and assumed control of the capital in Sept. 2014. While
Gulf and Western media would lead one to believe it was Iran who intervened
and provided material support to the Houthis, there is little evidence of such.
The ceaseless Saudi air campaign has so decimated Yemen that widespread malnutrition,
famine and even cholera have emerged. But after three years, the Houthis have
not been displaced from Sanaa and Hadi’s government has not been reinstated.

Qatar

It is ironic that one of the GCC states instrumental in fomenting discord and
strife in Syria through support of al-Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated
groups was not spared the intrigues of Saudi royals. Unable to tolerate independence
from the leadership of King Salman and his designated successor, Crown Prince
Muhammad bin Salman, Qatar and its flagship news station Al Jazeera deviated
from the program and went their own way. Whether by funding groups at odds with
those backed by Riyadh or competing with the Saudi-owned media outlet Al Arabiya,
Qatar was an outlier. Simply, it was not to be a subservient client state like
Bahrain. Hence, an economic and travel blockade was imposed. In the face of
the embargo, politically astute Qatar proved good relations with Turkey and
Iran had its benefits. The emir was not deposed, Qatar survived economically
and there is no indication they will bow to Riyadh’s list of demands anytime
soon.

But the destruction wrought, the lives taken, the people displaced, the villages/towns/cities/provinces/countries
destroyed, the refugee camps created, the misery inflicted, the Israeli occupation
ignored, the sectarianism incited … the toll exacted by the failed Saudi Project
for the Middle East is incalculable.